Did you think you'd ever need to use ALGEBRA in real life? Did you think you'd ever WANT to use algebra in real life? If you answered "No!"--or "@%^*!*% No!!"--to both questions, we present this ALGEBRA-themed cache to disprove your misbegotten misconstructions. Solve it and demonstrate conclusively the usefulness of high school mathematics in everyday life. (Well OK, maybe not EVERY day, but at least with a frequency determined by third-order Gaussian laws of harmonic oscillation!)
Cache is just a micro with log sheet. You'll get no swag for finding it. What material reward could hope to equal the unalloyed elation of an elegant solution? As Euclid said to the student who asked what he had to gain by learning geometry, "Here is a coin for you, as you feel you need to make profit from what you learn!" So let not the Queen of the Sciences be sullied by the disgruntlement of those who know not the wonders of the indeterminate form. And now I think I need to take my medication.
Time to open up your test packets. No talking or texting please!
That ALGEBRA Cache
1. Solve the following system of simultaneous equations:
2X-4Y=4
6X+3Y=42
2. For the linear equation
3X-Y+7=0
What is the slope? What is the Y-intercept?
3. Solve for the 2 roots of the quadratic equation: X 2-7X+12=0
4. Old Fartful is a Charter Member of Groundspeak. Ever since he logged his first cache on May 10, 2000, he has been steadfast in his devotion to the game he loves, and has logged 196,480 caches.
Sadly, the years have been unkind to Old Fartful. Suffering from ambulatory instability and cognitive impairment, he was forced to turn over Power of Attorney rights to his good-for-nothing kids, who wasted no time in placing him in an Assisted Living Facility, cancelling his Premium Membership, and selling his GPSr to pay for their new hot tub.
But Old Fartful will not surrender to despair. On moonlit nights, you may see him in the parking lots of strip malls and rest stops, lifting the skirts of every lamp post, searching for the cache that may lie beneath. Sometimes the Police will discover him and escort him back to the Assisted Living Facility. Still, Old Fartful is able to log 12 caches per year.
Youngsnot Whippercacher is a millionaire playboy who never worked a day in his life. Tired of romancing fashion models and bored of high-stakes gambling, he has devoted his considerable resources to Geocaching. Travelling with his Lamborghini, Leer jet, and 60-ft yacht, he logs 2,468 caches per year.
How many years will it take until the number of caches logged by Youngsnot Whippercacher equals the number logged by Old Fartful?
(Note: La Vaca Verde feels this problem needs clarification. When Old Fartful enters the ALF, he has logged 196,480 caches. From that day on, stripped of his GPSr, he continues to find caches at the meager rate of 12/yr. At the same time, Youngsnot Whippercacher logs his FIRST cache, and then continues to do so at the annual rate given. OK?)
5. A mad scientist and a puzzle-phobic Duck both wish to be the First To Find That ALGEBRA Cache.
The mad scientist, using the analytic Cartesian regression theorem, completes his solution in 15 mins. He then gets on his gyro-bike and pedals off at the top speed of 7 mph to the cache, which his calculations show is 56 miles away.
The puzzle-phobic Duck phones several friends, purchases a Learning Company course called "Mathematics Made Simple (but not THAT Simple!)," and slips the CO a bribe. He completes his solution after 8 hrs and 6 bottles of Tylenol. Fortunately, the cache is only 22-1/2 miles away from his pond, "as the duck flies"--and a duck who's out to be First To Find can fly mighty fast!
At what speed (mph) does the duck need to fly in order to arrive at Ground Zero at the same time as the Mad Scientist?
NOW FOR THE CACHE!
N 42. AB.CDE W 075.FG.HIJ
A=Value of "Y" in Problem 1
B=Value of Y INTERCEPT in Problem 2
C=The value of the TENS digit in Prob. 5
D=The lesser of the 2 solutions to Prob. 3
E=The greater of the 2 solutions to Problem 3
F=The value of the "ONES" digit in Problem 5
G=The SLOPE of the equation in Problem 2
H=The value of "X" in Problem 1
IJ=Reverse the digits in the solution to Prob. 4
CONGRATULATIONS, TeamGEEK--er, I mean TeamGAWK! 1st TO FIND!